The fermentation process of alcohol
By Sid Lingala and Erica Guthrie
April 11, 2019
Alcohol is a drink of choice for many contemporary college students. But according to Linda O’Reilly, a biological sciences lecturer at Pitt, the process of creating alcohol can be dated back more than 5,000 years ago.
Q&A: Documentary filmmaker Chris Paine on AI
By Griffin Lynch, Staff Writer
April 10, 2019
The Pitt News talked with Chris Paine before a showing of the documentary about AI and his filmmaking process.
Engineering professor receives NSF CAREER Award
By Lauren Rude, For The Pitt News
April 4, 2019
Tevis Jacobs, an assistant professor in the mechanical engineering and materials science department, received the National Science Foundation’s $500,000 CAREER Award this year to improve nanoparticle performance. “When we talk about nanoparticles, even I, as a scientist that studies nanoscience, have trouble conceiving of how small these are,” Jacobs said. “I am very excited about both [components]. They are both huge endeavors.”
Vibrant Media Lab offers glimpse into first game system
By Vaibhav Gupta, For The Pitt News
March 18, 2019
The group, the Vibrant Media Lab, will present one of the earliest-created game consoles in history — the Magnavox Odyssey — to Pitt students on April 5 in order to promote a wider understanding of the history and culture behind video games along with the VML’s work for the past two years.
Today’s weather forecast: who knows?
By Brian Gentry, Assistant News Editor
January 16, 2019
This spring semester had a hot start.
Government shutdown slows university research
By Brian Gentry, Assistant News Editor
January 8, 2019
The U.S. government shut down on Dec. 22, and research production at Pitt and other universities may slow down because of it.
Gab: Its history and influence in the Tree of Life shooting
By Erica Guthrie, Staff Writer
October 29, 2018
Shortly before entering the Tree of Life congregation in Squirrel Hill, Robert Bowers, a Baldwin resident and Saturday’s shooting suspect, posted a message on social media site Gab that said, “I can't sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics. I'm going in.” As details of the massacre unfolded, more anti-Semitic messages that Bowers had posted on his Ga...
Pittsburgh, Denmark, Swanson: International energy initiatives come to campus
By Ashley Priore, For the Pitt News
September 25, 2018
Pittsburgh is a historically dirty city. The City was an industrial hub of metalworking, iron and steel factories for more than a century — but while these factories brought economic prosperity to the area, they also generated massive air pollution. After some time, Pittsburgh was known by nicknam...
Scoobi brings electric scooters to Pittsburgh streets
By Samuel Weber, Staff Writer
August 20, 2018
The Pittsburgh-based company Scoobi seeks to cut down on emissions with its new fleet of rentable electric scooters.
Covestro lectures honors professor
By Briana Canady | Staff Writer
April 20, 2018
Harvard University professor George Whitesides spoke to a crowd of about 150 people Thursday night in Benedum Hall about how chemistry can be utilized in all industries to bring opportunities for invention and productivity. “The tools from the health care and manufacturing industries can provide what we ...
Engineering students present projects at Swanson School of Engineering Design Expo
By Remy Samuels | Staff Writer
April 20, 2018
After countless hours of designing, coding and calculating, more than 400 engineering students of various disciplines traded their polo shirts and safety glasses for bow ties and blazers Thursday evening at the Spring 2018 Swanson School of Engineering Design Expo. The expo, held at the Soldiers and Sailors M...
Panelists consider social media’s impact
By Hannah Schneider, Staff Writer
March 29, 2018
When David Hickton addressed the concept of social media Wednesday night, he said users are reaching a tipping point of outrage with it that will lead to social change. “We’re recognizing that we’re being deceived and diluted by this nonsense,” the former U.S. Attorney said. The University ...
Students find furniture and more free and for sale
By Sarah Shearer | Contributing Editor
March 19, 2018
Picking up the couch wasn’t supposed to be an all-day affair. Kathryn Kennedy and her boyfriend Andrew Rabeneck planned to quickly move it into Kennedy’s newly rented — and bare — apartment, order pizza and watch Star Wars from the comfort of her new couch. But they didn’t know wha...
Students ‘break in’ to security engineering at Pitt
By Thompson Wymard | For The Pitt News
March 13, 2018
Marc Tobias has been picking locks since he was 15. One of his first experiences in the trade came when he went into a local locksmith in Denver and asked to pick the store’s toughest lock as a challenge. After initially being dismissed, the store gave him the lock and said he would never be able to ...
Students get business and banking advice
By Kenan Meral | For The Pitt News
February 20, 2018
As technology and business come together, Emily Hirao is well-versed on how she can use a multifaceted skill set to help her forge a professional future — by focusing on data analytics, the process by which meaning can be derived from information. Hirao, a senior studying business technology at Carnegie Mellon ...
Four Growers: Farming for the future
By Brian Salvato | Staff Writer
February 13, 2018
Imagine being able to open a door and go from biting winds and snow to a warm, climate-controlled greenhouse that carries the aroma of fresh tomatoes — being harvested by robots roaming through the aisles. For Brandon Contino and Daniel Chi, this fantasy is turning into a reality through their c...
Pitt unveils sustainable engineering master’s program
By Laura Howe | Staff Writer
February 2, 2018
David Sanchez has seen Pittsburgh at the forefront of producing environmentally sound projects ever since his first fellowship at Pitt in the mid-2000s. Now, as an assistant professor in Pitt’s civil and environmental engineering department, he’s helping set up the Swanson School of Engineering’...
Pitt’s LifeX project to support entrepreneurs
By Anish Salvi | Staff Writer
January 29, 2018
After moving on from his career as a pediatric endocrinologist to become a professor in Pitt’s Graduate School of Public Health, David Finegold never forgot about the patients he treated. He was especially moved by his patients who had suffered from Type 1 diabetes mellitus, a disease that prevent...
Strongr, Fastr and individualized: Pitt alums develop fitness app
By Sid Lingala | Staff Writer
January 18, 2018
As a person without a strong interest in fitness, Eric Lutz had trouble figuring out what constituted a good workout and a healthy meal — and sticking with the exercise and diet plans he came up with. “I would try to go the gym, but would eventually end up not going,” Lutz said. “I really ...
Physicians at play: Pitt professor seeks to improve responsiveness through video game
By Remy Samuels | Staff Writer
January 9, 2018
Imagine you are 80 years old and fall down a flight of stairs, fracturing many ribs. The doctor says your condition isn’t critical and sends you home with medication, but hours later you’re back at the hospital with respiratory failure and a life-threatening case of pneumonia. This scenario is...
Sustainable farming gets an urban upgrade
By Anish Salvi | Staff Writer
January 8, 2018
Kareem Adam Rabbat formed an appreciation for nature from fishing with his father as a young boy, which eventually led him to join an initiative as an adult to find sustainable ways of getting fresh food to people. “That kind of instilled in me a great value for the outdoors,” Rabbat said. “...
Pitt upgrades physics resources
By Anish Salvi | For The Pitt News
December 7, 2017
Pitt’s Department of Physics and Astronomy has received a new gadget that will help students make massive academic strides in the near future. Pitt acquired Extrel’s educational mass spectrometer, IQ-2000, in October. The device — which identifies gases based on their molecular mass to charge rat...
Pitt alum speaks about science policy
By Amanda Finney | Staff Writer
December 6, 2017
Women in STEM often leave their jobs mid-career to spend more time with their families, but then later struggle to integrate back into the workplace. To help women in this situation regain their careers, Martha Merrill worked to implement a STEM reentry workshop. This job is just one of the posi...
Pitt professor placed on Forbes “30 Under 30” list
By Remy Samuels | Staff Writer
December 5, 2017
Hao Sun sees little difference between monitoring the health of buildings and bridges and monitoring the health of human bodies. “In the human body, we have the nervous system so when you feel something abnormal or if you’re sick, your nervous system can tell this information,” Sun said. “I...
Alum studies safety of nuclear energy
By David Solomon | For The Pitt News
December 1, 2017
Sola Talabi always had a vision that one day he would “turn the lights on in Africa.” “Five thousand children die every day in Africa because they don't have access to power,” he said. “I call that an emergency.” Talabi’s vision motivated him to spend the last 20 years pursuing a cost-effectiv...
Study looks to link brain activity, suicidal thoughts
By Madeline Gavatorta | Staff Writer
November 27, 2017
After contributing work to a study on brain activity, Marcel Just described the effort to better understand human thought as “a psychologist’s dream.” “Scientifically, it is fantastically interesting if you could assess the content of a thought,” Just, the director of the Center for Cogn...
Students dedicate time to developing drone
By Anish Salvi | For The Pitt News
November 20, 2017
Levi Burner had dreamed of making a flying machine since he was 8 years old. The junior electrical engineering student finally got his chance when he started to build a drone for the International Aerial Robotics Competition more than a year ago. “The fact that we have found a competition that ...
Scan brings brighter outlook for brain injuries
By Anandhini Narayanan | Staff Writer
October 26, 2017
What seemed like harmless fun riding ATVs with friends took a turn for the worse when Daniel Stunkard was thrown from the vehicle and hit the road. Stunkard wasn’t wearing a helmet at time, and ended up in a coma for three and a half weeks. When he woke up, he was partially paralyzed. “The [...
Pitt, CMU researchers redevelop software for academic publishing
By Sid Lingala | For The Pitt News
October 15, 2017
Benjamin Ogrodnik said he is often frustrated when traditional publication methods he uses are unable to include films and project methodology as part of the final product. “A finished article is just a really refined argument. The story is in the creation of it,” Ogrodnik said. “There is so m...
Students make safety pocket-sized
By Jaime Weinreb | For The Pitt News
September 6, 2017
Knowing to call 911 for help is common knowledge, but it was an impossible task for senior Annmarie Stockinger when she was sexually assaulted in Tower C during her first year at Pitt. Fear rendered her powerless. She could not even try to dial three simple numbers. “I was holding my phone t...
Totality in Tennessee: Pitt scientists witness, document historic eclipse
By Lexi Kennell / Culture Editor
August 22, 2017
As the Pitt Shadow Bandits gradually filled their weather balloon with helium, a symphony of worried gasps escaped from the crowd of spectators as they heard a loud pop and saw the balloon’s deflated remains spread out on the lush Tennessee grass. “Do they have enough helium for another?” someone in the cro...
Pitt Smart Living project hopes to ‘democratize,’ incentivize transportation
By John Hamilton | Editor-in-Chief
July 12, 2017
A Pitt research project is attempting to “democratize” and incentivize public transportation in Pittsburgh using public information screens and a mobile app. The Pitt Smart Living project is currently in the pilot phase, according to Alexandros Labrinidis, the Pitt computer science professor leading th...
Prototype creates space for feminist makers
By MarySandra Do / For The Pitt News
January 31, 2017
Caitlin Bruce, an assistant professor in the department of communication at Pitt, always liked sewing and painting, but had yet to find a suitable space to practice her art in Pittsburgh. “I haven’t had a lot of experience in makerspaces, but, one that I went to, it felt kind of like very masculine — it was a ...
Pittsburgh, Penn State chosen as national autonomous vehicle testing sites
By Amanda Reed / Assistant News Editor
January 24, 2017
Expect to see even more autonomous vehicles driving around Pennsylvania in the coming months. The federal Department of Transportation accepted PennDOT’s request to make Pennsylvania a National Proving Ground — testing site — for Autonomous Vehicle Technologies on January 19, one month after...
Eye imaging helps glaucoma patients, according to study
By James Evan Bowen-Gaddy / Staff Writer
January 18, 2017
With a few pictures, eye disease patients may get more focused help than before, according to a new study. Researchers at both Pitt and the University of Rochester Medical Center have developed a new technique for photographing the human eye that allows them to view cells that have never been seen...
oSTEM making a space LGBTQ+ students in STEM fields
By Janine Faust / Staff Writer
January 13, 2017
Before he came out as gay to his lab group, Alexander Rowden had to figure out what to say when his classmates asked his opinion on certain female celebrities. “They’d be like, ‘Scarlett Johansson's pretty hot, right?’ and I’d just say she wasn’t really my type or something,” Rowden,...
Going Virtual
By Brady Langmann | Culture Editor
December 8, 2016
Michael Arenth reached for his goggles, strapped them to his head with a rubber band and embarked on a trip 6,000 miles away. He sat in the back of a bumpy brown canoe and watched the bony arms of a 9-year-old refugee paddle across a swamp, enveloped by the emerald-colored fields of South Sudan. With...
It’s all in your head: Pitt researchers measure hallucinations
By James Evan Bowen-Gaddy
November 10, 2016
When you think of hallucinations, you may think of a woozy feeling and swimming images or of the bright spots you see after rubbing your eyes. Hallucinations are typically an undesired side effect of sleep deprivation, mental illness or certain prescription drugs –– called psychotropics –– but t...
Pitt student entrepreneurs win $25,000 in award money
By James Evan Bowen-Gaddy / For The Pitt News
November 2, 2016
Investors, entrepreneurs and healthcare professionals grilled the team of inventors for hours. The team –– known as Aeronics and made up of seniors Blake Dube and Mark Spitz, graduate student Alec Kaija and advisor Dr. Chris Wilmer –– had designed and developed an oxygen delivery device and...
More body cams to come for Pittsburgh police
By David Robinson / Staff Writer
October 20, 2016
Adding to the 170 wired body cameras Pittsburgh police are already wearing, the Bureau said at a public safety meeting Wednesday that it ordered another 500 wireless body cameras to use in the coming year. The new cameras have higher video quality and storage capacity, officer Garrett Bickmore sa...
Researchers, innovators come to Pittsburgh for Frontiers Conference
By Alexa Bakalarski, Amina Doghri, Leo Dornan, Janine Faust, Maria Hurtado, David Robinson / The Pitt News Staff
October 14, 2016
For just a few hours on Thursday, you could walk on Mars without ever leaving Alumni Hall. In a partnership with Microsoft, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory developed OnSight, virtual 3-D technology enabling scientists to study Mars’ environment while wearing Microsoft HoloLens. NASA demonstrate...
President Barack Obama visited Pittsburgh to talk innovation, healthcare, technology
By Lauren Rosenblatt / News Editor
October 14, 2016
President Barack Obama thinks right now is the greatest time to be alive. At least that’s what he wrote in his guest editorial for this month’s edition of WIRED — a science and technology magazine — and reiterated in a speech on Carnegie Mellon University’s campus Thursday afternoon. ...
Students pitch project ideas at Startup Blitz
By David Robinson / Staff Writer
October 3, 2016
To decrease the prevalence of violent crime on campus, including sexual assaults, one Pitt student has come up with a simple solution: a tech-savvy wristband. Pitt senior Amy Johnson proposed her project, dubbed Student Connect, at Friday’s Startup Blitz, an entrepreneurial contest where students...
3D Printing food possible but costly
By Andrew O'Brien / Staff Writer
September 30, 2016
Instead of popping a cake in the oven, people may soon be able to pour cake batter in a 3D printer and watch the machine create the cake for them. 3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, has come a long way since the early 1980s, when a tiny plastic cup became the first-ever 3D printed ...
Doctors warn against e-cigarette risks
By Jace Bridges and Alexis Carter / For The Pitt News
September 28, 2016
Despite their variety of fruity and sweet flavors, electronic cigarettes could pose similar dangers to users as traditional cigarettes, according to a panel of physicians and experts that met Tuesday — so much so that the devices should be banned indoors. On Tuesday afternoon, Karen Hacker, director...
Students attempt to add diversity to donor registries
By Jace Bridges / For The Pitt News
September 21, 2016
After her family friend was diagnosed with leukemia, Jessica Cohen saw her community of family and friends come together. So following their example, she signed up to become a bone marrow donor, adding herself to a list of people who could provide life saving marrow or stem cells to cancer patients....
Pitt researchers design smart materials
By Erin Hare / Staff Writer
September 20, 2016
Computers commonly sit in our pockets or on our wrists, but the next generation’s “smart” materials could weave technology into the very fabric of our clothing. Pitt researchers have linked principles of chemistry, materials science and mathematics to design the model of a material that can rec...
Students use fish to create urban farm
By Jace Bridges / For The Pitt News
September 8, 2016
While some Pitt students struggle to keep their houseplants alive, sophomore Vinh Luong and his team are using a school of fish and a shipping container to grow an entire farm. In March, Luong, a computer science major, and his project partner Joe DiPietro, a sophomore actuarial sciences major, wo...
Pitt researchers continue to fight against the Zika virus
By Erin Hare / Staff Writer
September 2, 2016
Amidst the public’s rising fear of the Zika virus, Pitt researchers are on the forefront of those digging for explanations and cures. On Thursday afternoon, researchers from Pitt and from the Fundação Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, also known as FIOCRUZ, a Brazilian biomedical research and development...
Pitt Student Startup to Present at Congress
By Lauren Rosenblatt
August 30, 2016
Two Pitt alumni and one Pitt professor will travel to the nation’s capital next month to present their startup company, HiberSense, to Congress in the first-ever University Startups Demo Day. The startup was chosen to participate as one of 35 companies in the Demo Day, an event in Washington, D.C., ...
Pitt researchers studying bubbles for cancer treatment
By Emily Brindley / Assistant News Editor
August 29, 2016
Blowing bubbles may seem like child’s play, but Pitt researchers have added another element to the game by filling those bubbles with life-saving medicine. Researchers from UPMC’s Center for Ultrasound Molecular Imaging and Therapeutics are experimenting with sonoporation, a technique that use...
Pitt anti-virus software includes security vulnerabilities
By Alexa Bakalarski / News Editor
July 5, 2016
The anti-virus software used by most Pitt campus computers includes several security vulnerabilities. Symantec Corporation announced two critical security vulnerabilities affecting several of its products, including Symantec Endpoint Protection for workstations and the SEP Management console, the ant...
Pitt receives grant to research in space
By Yuanyuan Xiao / For The Pitt News
June 28, 2016
Pitt is expanding its research on bone diseases while moving medical science to the “final frontier” — space. Rocky Tuan, a Pitt biology professor, recently received a $500,000 grant from the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space to conduct research on the accelerated bone loss of as...
Pitt launches replacement login service
By Alexa Bakalarski / News Editor
June 1, 2016
Pitt is updating how users access Pitt’s online services with a new login system, beginning in June. Pitt Passport — passport.pitt.edu — will replace the My Pitt portal and individual access pages for Pitt services with a single login prompt providing access across all sites. According to a re...
Pitt establishes $1 million fund for faculty, student business ventures
By Elizabeth Lepro / Contributing Editor
May 5, 2016
On Thursday, Pitt announced it will give $1 million to Pitt faculty and students looking to put the products of their research on the market. The $1 million in gap funding money — called the Chancellor’s Innovation Commercialization Funds — will immediately, and over the next two years support pr...
German language tool wins mobile app challenge
By Josh Ye / Staff Writer
April 8, 2016
After seeing countless first-year students waste their dining hall swipes — and others who wished they had some — two former Resident Assistants hit their laptops. Asim Viqar and Shil Patel designed Swipes — an app that facilitates sharing meal swipes and allows students to tip one another for...
Pitt study links frequent social media use and depression in young adults
By Josh Ye / Staff Writer
April 5, 2016
Even as she scrolls through her social media feeds, Erica Cunningham can see why the constant connection might not be so good for her. “When you are on social media, it is hard to compare what your life is like and what their lives seem to be,” Cunningham, a first-year student, said. “Also, if...
Engineers model power grid to solve solar problem
By Josh Ye / Staff Writer
March 16, 2016
After receiving federal funding in February, a team of Pitt engineers aims to create a model of an all-inclusive electrical grid that incorporates solar power. Right now, the electricity from solar power overpowers and damages some traditional electric grids, the systems that distribute electricity to ...
Pitt to open engineering labs off-campus
By Dale Shoemaker / News Editor
March 15, 2016
Making new metallic alloys for jumbo jet and turbine engines and turning Oakland into a self-sufficient power grid could both become realities within the next five years, according to researchers who will work in a new 18,600-square-foot lab off campus. The lab, located within the Energy Innovation Ce...
Hacking away stereotypes
By Emily Brindley / Staff Writer
February 24, 2016
At most Pitt hackathons, hundreds of men line the desks and tables, chattering and hammering away on keyboards. Yet the women who can design and code just as well as them are largely absent. The environment meant for collaboration is undoubtedly male — and unwelcoming. According to Mackenzie Ball, ...
University Senate talks tech with CSSD
By Emily Migdal / Staff Writer
February 21, 2016
The University Senate Computer Usage Committee met Friday to begin planning for technology improvements in Pitt’s five-year strategic plan. Eight committee members and two members of the Office of Computing Services and Systems Development met in Room 717 of the Cathedral of Learning at 10 a.m. to d...
No love for women fishing for women
By Alexa Bakalarski / Staff Writer
February 12, 2016
When Estizer Smith logged into her dating accounts, she expected coffee date invites from other women. But instead, her inbox was filled with men — more specifically, men asking her for threesomes. Smith, a bisexual senior at Pitt, used Tinder for a year and Bumble for eight months before growing tir...
Pitt to merge SIS, CS department
By Taylor Mulcahey / Staff Writer
February 11, 2016
Within the next year and a half, Pitt’s computer science department and school of information science will become one. The new undergraduate school, the School of Computing Informatics, is slated to accept its first students in the fall of 2017 and will combine the 32 SIS faculty with the 18 CS f...
Pitt partners with Beijing university
By Dale Shoemaker / News Editor
February 11, 2016
Pitt’s Innovation Institute announced a new partnership with Tsinghua University in Beijing Tuesday that will kick-start collaborative projects in technology, commercialization and research. According to the Innovation Institute’s agreement with Tsinghua University, the partnership will facilitate trav...
Less cell time, more discounts with Pocket Points app
By Leo Dornan / Staff Writer
February 10, 2016
Students finally have a tangible incentive for staying off their phones in class — discounts on local bites and coupons for stores around campus. Pocket Points, a free app two California State University, Chico students invented and launched in late 2014, awards users one point for every 35 minutes ...
Bullying hurts LGBTQ+ youth, study finds
By Saskia Berrios-Thomas / For The Pitt News
February 4, 2016
Alexander McCarthy can still feel his palms sweat and his chest clench when he recalls the rumors about his relationship with another student at his all-girls Catholic high school. McCarthy, a transgender man and former president of Rainbow Alliance, an LGBTQ+ student group at Pitt, did not experien...
Information science dean to change roles
By Lauren Rosenblatt / Assistant News Editor
January 29, 2016
Ron Larsen, dean of Pitt’s School of Information Sciences, will resign in 2017 after he helps lead a department restructure, the University said on Thursday. Larsen, who has worked at Pitt since 2002, is now working with the chair of the Department of Computer Science, Taieb Znati, to combine the...
Students found startup to trade books
By Casey Schmauder / Staff Writer
January 29, 2016
By the time Carey Wasa graduated Pitt in 2013, he had a stockpile of textbooks sitting on his windowsill that weren’t worth even trying to sell. “It hit me that there are students who probably need these books for classes, and I have them right here,” Wasa said. Wasa pitched the idea of star...
The Pitt News’ 2015 Year in Review
By The Pitt News Staff
December 31, 2015
A crackdown on overcrowding, the Student Government Board president's resignation, and pushes for bike lanes and a professors union — it's been a busy year for Pitt, and The Pitt News has been there for it all. While we have been making our New Year's resolutions to make your student newspaper even...
Mars Rover chat: The Pitt News talks with the brains behind the mission to the red planet
By Emily Migdal / Staff Writer
December 14, 2015
If the Mars rover hadn’t landed smoothly, Steven Squyres said he would likely be in therapy. “At the time we landed, my kids were in their teens, and I had been working on this thing their entire lives, since before they were born. And so I think they were all just very, very relieved that it wor...
Light-years of learning: Pitt students, learn stars, history at Allegheny Observatory
By Zoe Hannah / Staff Writer
December 14, 2015
Though it started out as a recreational observatory for the rich men who founded it, the Allegheny Observatory became the home of research that changed the world and our thoughts on what surrounds it. Since 1859, researchers at the regal, tri-domed observatory in Riverview Park have made world-renow...
Blasting gender barriers: There aren’t many, but more and more women are studying the stars at Pitt
By Josh Ye / Staff Writer
December 14, 2015
Pitt graduate student Kara Ponder studies exploding stars to find critical distances in the universe, yet some people question why she didn’t pick a more “feminine profession.” Once, when Ponder told a cab driver she was on her way to the observatory to use the telescope, the driver responded...
Despite resignation, classes at Pittsburgh Filmmakers will roll on
By Rio Maropis / Staff Writer
December 11, 2015
Though the executive director of Pittsburgh Filmmakers and Pittsburgh Center for the Arts has resigned from his post, classes for Pitt film students at the nonprofit will roll on. Charlie Humphrey, who was the executive director of Filmmakers for 23 years, also has overseen activities at Pittsburgh Ce...
SGB reflects on fall term
By Lauren Wilson / Staff Writer
December 9, 2015
With one new board member and a handful of new committee members joining Student Government Board, the Board took on projects as small as sandwiches and as big as mental illness. From food, laundry and public health to human rights, diversity and transparency, the nine members of SGB faced the semest...
‘Innovation Challenge’ teams win cash
By Leo Dornan / Staff Writer
December 7, 2015
For Chelsea Stowell, an innovation grant may be the push she and her team of bioengineers need to start making prosthetic arteries. Stowell, a Pitt graduate student, works as part of the Phoenix team — the name given to their prosthetic artery project during the third Pitt Innovation Challenge. Th...
The male brain on porn: Wheaton researcher speaks at Pitt
By Casey Schmauder / Staff Writer
December 4, 2015
William Struthers left the rat race of rodent research and started studying the brains of male porn addicts in 2004, delivering his findings to students Thursday night in the William Pitt Union. Struthers, a psychology professor at Wheaton College in Illinois, was initially an animal researcher, stud...
Researcher texts to curb drinking
By Zoe Hannah / Staff Writer
December 3, 2015
To recover from the stress of a busy week, Shaina Pomerantz and her friends let loose on the weekends, beginning at home and ending the night at an Oakland bar. Pomerantz, a 22-year-old senior sociology major, said she knows binge drinking is unhealthy, but that it’s an inherent part of the college e...
Students climb “FoodChain” with new app
By Lauren Wilson / Staff Writer
November 30, 2015
When Pitt senior Justin Ruoff went out to eat with his then-girlfriend in the summer of 2014, they had very different meal experiences. Ruoff ordered a burger and said it was delicious. He said his companion’s salad, however, was awful — the lettuce was brown and inedible. The couple didn’t w...
Oakland unveils digital plaza
By Dylan Shaffer / For The Pitt News
November 17, 2015
The corner of Forbes and South Bouquet Avenues transformed into New York City on New Year’s Eve as community members counted down the opening of the Forbes Digital Plaza. On Nov. 16, at 6 p.m., around 300 Oakland community members gathered to watch the Oakland Business Improvement District — an eco...
SORC adopts new website
By Mark Pesto / Senior Staff Writer
October 21, 2015
In an effort to make running student groups easier, Pitt’s Student Organization Resource Center has given its online management program a facelift. Launched in September, SORC has been working to transition to using CollegiateLink, a site designed for organization management and event scheduling, as its...
Open data connects community
By Elizabeth Lepro and Dale Shoemaker / News Staff
October 15, 2015
Call it a Pittsburgh-sized win for transparency. Pitt Senior Vice Chancellor for Engagement and Chief of Staff Kathy Humphrey, Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald and City of Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto announced Thursday that the three heavyweights had opened the Western Pennsylvania Regional...
Pitt researchers propose new stem cell method
By Annemarie Carr / Staff Writer
October 14, 2015
After six years of collaboration, Pitt researchers Ipsita Banerjee and Prashant Kumta, said they can now launch a “very easy and cheap” way to grow stem cells to help cure Type 2 diabetes. With current methods, researchers face high costs and waits of several days to several weeks to make eno...
Pitt, FBI warn students of phone scam
By Elizabeth Lepro / Assistant News Editor
October 13, 2015
Pitt warned students last week of a phone scam that targets college students. The University released a warning on Friday on the My Pitt home page and through Campus Connect about a phone scam where a caller, claiming to represent the U.S. government, with a forged phone number tells the student that he or she owes delinquent student loans, dues or parking tickets. The caller, using a “spo...
Pittsburgh becomes inventor’s paradise at Maker Faire
By Emily Brindley / Staff Writer
October 11, 2015
Handmade robots crawled along the asphalt and 3-D printers whirred quietly as artisans and creators of all ages flooded Buhl Community Park in Northside and transformed it into an inventor’s paradise this weekend. On Oct. 10 and 11, more than 200 exhibits displayed booths and tents outside the Ch...
Give it the sniff test: Pitt to study olfactory senses
By Megan Tingley / For The Pitt News
October 8, 2015
A rescue dog approaches a building collapsed into a pile of rubble. It has one mission: find a missing person. How does it know where to walk? The goal of a Pitt-led, multi-institutional project is to understand how animals use their sense of smell to recognize and navigate toward odors. On Sept. ...
World Habitat Day’s Pitt debut
By Casey Schmauder / For The Pitt News
October 6, 2015
Pitt’s Habitat for Humanity handed out Skittles and M&M packages Monday, but the messages on the candy wrappers were not so sweet. “By 2030, UN-HABITAT, [United Nations Human Settlements Program] estimates an additional 3 billion people, about 40 percent of the world’s population, will need...
Pitt prints in three dimensions
By Emily Brindley / Staff Writer
October 6, 2015
The labs beneath the basement of Benedum Hall look pretty barren to the uninformed visitor. But the Additive Manufacturing Lab, where Minking Chyu works, holds the weight of several million dollars’ worth of equipment. This lab’s purpose is additive manufacturing, commonly called 3-D printing. The most...
Baby boomer study makes sense of healthcare research
By Shumeng Yang / For The Pitt News
October 4, 2015
As the baby boomer’s years increase, so will their medical demands. The “boomers,” people born in the United States between 1946 and 1964, outnumber Generation X 77 million to 65 million, according to the Pew Research Center. With the large population of boomers entering retirement, Pitt researche...
Dining Guide: Online promotion doesn’t profit
October 1, 2015
If Sorrento’s is offering a cheap pizza, freshman Brody Hastings is in. Attracting and retaining customers like Hastings at local restaurants is the subject of a study from a collaboration of researchers at Pitt’s School of Information Sciences and the Stevens Institute of Technology. The study...
Pitt to publish first academic journal on Bitcoin
By Annemarie Carr / Staff Writer
September 28, 2015
The world’s first peer-reviewed journal of Bitcoin research will soon call Pitt home. Christopher Wilmer, assistant professor in the chemical and petroleum engineering department, has co-founded a peer-reviewed scientific journal on cryptocurrency called Ledger. Crypotcurrency refers to any kind of dig...
PeopleSoft now portable
By Rio Maropis / For The Pitt News
September 1, 2015
In a tech-savvy generation, Peoplesoft needed an upgrade. In July, Pitt released a mobile app for PeopleSoft, a previously web-only platform for students to access class information, academic progress and schedule classes. According to spokesman John Fedele, Pitt partnered in early 2015 with HighPoint Mo...
In Case You Missed It…
By The Pitt News Staff
August 30, 2015
May 12 - Pitt to build Iranian Nationality Room After two unsuccessful attempts dating to 1958, Pitt will transform room 352 of the Cathedral of Learning into an Iranian Nationality Room — once it secures funding. The total cost of the room will be between $800,000 and $1 million. To fundraise f...
‘Digital plaza’ coming to Oakland
By Elizabeth Lepro / Assistant News Editor
August 30, 2015
This fall, an organization will seek to install a high-tech art exhibition in Oakland. Innovation Oakland, a project that aims to transform the streets of Oakland into a digital community, plans to complete the “21st Digital Plaza” by mid-October. The initiative will fill the corner of Forbes...
Uber paves way to success for Pittsburgh engineers
By Elizabeth Lepro / Assistant News Editor
June 9, 2015
Uber is growing far beyond an app, and it's riding on Pittsburgh engineers to expand. Uber, the international rideshare company, opened its Advanced Technologies Center (ATC) in Pittsburgh in February after developing a strategic partnership with Carnegie Mellon University. Now, Uber is expanding that partnership to inclu...
Not green enough: After Year of Sustainability, campus environmentalists say Pitt should have done more
By Mark Pesto / Staff Writer
May 26, 2015
Pitt is one of the greenest colleges in the U.S., according to a new Princeton Review rating, but some student activists are still not satisfied.At the end of April, Pitt completed its first-ever Year of Sustainability, an initiative Provost Patricia Beeson established for the 2014-15 academic year ...
Instagram says emoji could be a new form of language, experts, students are not so sure
By Alexis Mazzeo / For the Pitt News
May 26, 2015
Scott Fahlman didn’t mean to start a trend.When Fahlman, a computer science researcher at Carnegie Mellon University, would communicate with colleagues on online message boards in the early 1980s, he needed a way to let them know when he was being serious and when he was joking. With a few simple strok...
The toll of twenty-six point two
By Dale Shoemaker / News Editor
May 5, 2015
At the starting line Sunday morning, Pitt students Kimberly Goehring and Shea McMurtry were worried their feet and ankles might not hold up.Goehring and McMurtry lined up in the heart of downtown Pittsburgh with nearly 30,000 other registered runners for the Dick’s Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon on Sunda...
Pitt to give CourseWeb a makeover
By Dale Shoemaker / News Editor
April 29, 2015
After this weekend, students will no longer see dropped and withdrawn courses still haunting their CourseWeb profiles.Pitt will upgrade multiple components of CourseWeb from Thursday, April 30 to Sunday May 3, according to Pitt spokesman John Fedele. Besides removing dropped courses, the update will also...